Some of the cars belonged to workers who had just arrived but couldn't get to their usual parking spots because of the closed streets and garages.

Kevin Mesa said, "So I come in and see that there is like something going on, some sort of emergency and there is ash everywhere. I run inside and try to see what happened this morning and before I can even get outside to take care of the meter, the meter man is already outside giving me a ticket. You could say I'm pretty upset."

Even a worker who had rushed to YMCA just a block from the fire to help in any way she could got a ticket.